


Chuck vs the Aliens

by Stormwolf_dawn



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Multi, Shapeshifting, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 01:55:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/656786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormwolf_dawn/pseuds/Stormwolf_dawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck, Casey and Sarah become something more than human after their encounter with aliens. Eventual Chuck/Sarah/Casey</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chuck vs the Aliens

There is nothing to see but white light all around him. There is no pain; in fact there is no sensation at all. He cannot feel his body, its as if he is separate from his body, his mind floating about in the whiteness. It is peaceful, serene, and John Casey hates every second of it.

He wants to struggle, to free himself from the white light but he cannot. He screams only he cannot hear his voice or feel the vibration in his throat. For all he knows he has been utterly silent. He wonders if this is what it is like to be dead.

Time passes; eventually the white place is gone. His body reports back in and Casey opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings.

He is in a cage made of something similar to Plexiglas. To his right in a similar cage connected by a shared wall is his asset, Chuck Bartowski. The young man is lying unconscious on his stomach, naked with a single silvery bracelet on his left wrist. To Casey's left is his partner, Sarah Walker, also unconscious, naked and wearing a silvery bracelet on her right wrist.

Casey's own senses tell him he is also nude but there is no bracelet on either of his wrists. Instead he reaches up with his right hand and fell the cool metal of a collar around his neck. His fingertips trace the metal looking for the release catch, but finds nothing but seamless metal; Casey snatches his hand away and growls softly in his throat.

He moves to his knees, the cage too short to allow him to stand. He crawls over to the wall his cage shares with Walker's and beats on it with his fist shouting at his CIA partner to wake up.

He sees her twitch, then hears her moan as she moves off her stomach rolling onto her back, her eyes opening slowly a hand coming to her forehead.

He knows the moment she realizes her nudity when she jerks into a sitting position her eyes wide and looking around her cage. She immediately focuses on Casey.

"What is going on?" Walker says. "Where is Chuck?"

Casey nods his head in the direction of the other cage behind him where Chuck is still out.

"He's there. I saw his breathing, he's just out like you were." Casey answers. "I don't know what is going on. The last thing I remember is driving through the desert."

He doesn't continue saying the reason for the drive. Sarah was there she remembers the reason.

"I remember. Do you think its Fulcrum?"

Casey looks around the room beyond the cages. The walls are silvery gray, and glow softly. It's bizarre in a surreal way.

"I don't think so." Casey says.

"Try and wake Chuck up." Sarah said.

Casey nods and crawls over to the wall his cage shares with Chuck's completely ignoring his nakedness.

Like with Sarah, Casey bangs on the wall with a fist shouting at Chuck to wake up. Unlike Sarah, Chuck wakes up with a jerk of his body, fear in his brown eyes. Not surprising since Chuck had been tranqued for his desert drive.

Chuck looks around widely not really seeing his handlers. His then looks down at himself and finds he his naked. Immediately hands go to cover his groin.

"What the government can't spring for clothes!" Chuck shouts.

"This isn't a government facility, Chuck." Casey tells him.

Chucks head swings in Casey's direction, his brown eyes wide as he sees his NSA handler sitting back on his calves just as naked as Chuck with a some kind of silvery metal collar around his neck. He also notices Sarah also in a cage beyond Casey just as naked and completely unembarrassed. Chuck immediately turns his eyes away from Sarah's nude body and looks directly at Casey's eyes.

"Wh…what is going on?" Chuck asks.

"We don't know." Casey answers honestly.

"You tranqued me and now we all suddenly end up on cages like some lab experiment and you don't know!"

"We weren't suppose to end up here. We were taking you to a secure facility. Someone intercepted us."

"Fulcrum?" Chuck asked afraid.

"I doubt it. Fulcrum wouldn't have any reason to keep Walker and I alive and they sure as hell wouldn't put us in glass cages with collars and bracelets."

Chuck looked down at the metal bracelet on his left wrist. The metal was smooth and seamless. Chuck could find now way to remove it. He couldn't even figure out how it was placed on his wrist in the first place.

"This isn't like any metal I know. All metals I know will eventually warm to your body temp, this is still cold even the part touching my wrist." Chuck said.

"So its not metal?" Casey asks.

"It's not like anything we know."

Sarah could obviously hear the conversation because she put in, "Chuck what are you saying?"

"I..I don't know." He didn't want to voice what he thought. It was crazy after all. Insane and it would just piss Casey off to hear Chuck's theory.

However, it was taken out of Chuck's hands when suddenly one of the walls dematerialized and two creatures right out of X-files entered the room.

Chuck gasped in shock and he noticed his two handlers weren't dealing very well with the sight of what Chuck could only guess was actual aliens.

"Oh my god there really are aliens, this is amazing!" Chuck was scared but excited at the same time. Proof of alien life was right in front of him.

"This is nuts." Casey said looking at the little gray aliens with their big heads and dark eyes. "We're hallucinating."

The aliens looked at their captives then walked over to one of the walls. Holographic images suddenly appeared in the air in front of them and the aliens touched the images with the three-fingered hands moving the images with touch as they spoke to each other in a strange language.

"We can't be hallucinating the same thing." Sarah said. She was handling it a bit better than her partner was.

"These are not aliens, there is no such thing!" Casey yelled.

"They are aliens!" Chuck said. "Look at them, people don't look like that even with the best make-up artists. And they aren't CGI."

Casey shook his head.

Suddenly holographic images surrounded Casey and he tried to jerk away only to find he couldn't move a muscle. The images around him appeared to be holographic images of human bio-systems, muscular, skeletal, nervous, and others. Chuck and Sarah watched in amazement as the holographic images moved around Casey changing so fast they couldn't make heads or tail of what the aliens were doing.

 

Eventually the holograms disappeared and Casey was able to move again. He was angry at being so helpless. Before he could take his anger out on the surrounding walls, the holograms appeared around Walker and she found herself unable to move.

"Why are they doing this?" Sarah asked doing her best to keep the fear she was feeling out of her voice.

"Its body systems, maybe they are using a type of MRI to see how humans are put together." Chuck hypothesized. "Its gotta be better than an autopsy."

Casey grunted.

Like with Casey, the holograms eventually disappeared and Sarah was released from whatever had immobilized her. Then it was Chuck's turn.

Chuck watched the holograms as best he could. They went through each system so quickly that Chuck barely had a glimpse. And while he was somewhat afraid, his inner geek was fascinated by everything around them. Knowing that there were really aliens and that he was possibly on a ship or even another planet…Chuck wasn't sure he could contain his excitement.

And so far the aliens hadn't hurt them. They were using some type of scanning technology rather than actually cutting and probing them. Chuck wondered if they would eventually be sent back to Earth to be one of the people everyone believes to be nuts saying they were kidnapped by aliens and experimented upon. Of course Chuck realized that if they did get back to Earth they might all end up in a secured facility, because it was possible the government knew about the aliens.

"So I guess when we get back I get to see the inside of Area 51?" Chuck said after the holograms disappeared around him.

"There is no Area 51. You're the computer with legs don't you think if we knew about these little big –eyed buggers that you would have flashed on them." Casey said.

"Well obviously there really are aliens, so why not an Area 51."

Casey shook his head. He still wasn't entirely convinced that they weren't having a mass hallucination.

The aliens continued their study of the holograms in front of them, touching places with their three-fingered hands and manipulating the images and strange writing.

While Chuck watched the aliens, Casey and Sarah explored the limits of their respective cages. The walls were solid and there were no holes to speak of. The floor was a strange metallic material.

Suddenly two objects materialized in each of their cells. A round blue object the size of a grapefruit and a tan colored cubed object also the same size as the round object.

Chuck was the first to pick up one of the objects. The round globe in his hand was squishy but no wet. Inside Chuck saw the blue color swirl in different shades of blue as he moved the object.

"Chuck put that down. It could be dangerous." Sarah said.

"I don't think it is. I think its…" And Chuck put the round object to his mouth and felt a sudden wetness on his tongue as the water inside the globe trickled into his mouth. Suddenly thirsty Chuck sucked on the water greedily. "Its water!"

"It could be poisoned, idiot!" Casey growled. Chuck thought that a trick of the light inside the chamber made Casey's eyes seem to glow almost like a cat's eyes when its angry for just a moment, and Chuck felt a strange cold sensation move up his spine. In the next second he dismissed the feeling.

"I think if they were going to kill us they would just do it." Chuck said. He took another drink of water from the globe watching in fascination as the globe shrank with each drink.

"Since Bartowski decided to be the guinea pig we'll wait an hour to see if anything happens to him." Casey told Sarah. She nodded, he worried eyes watching Chuck as he picked up the tan cube.

"If the globe is water, I wonder if this is food." Chuck said. He picked up the cube wondering what to do.

Like the globe, Chuck placed the cube against his mouth. Nothing happened. He touched it with his tongue and strangely there was no taste at all. With a shrug Chuck took a bite of the cube and began to chew. Suddenly a meaty taste flooded his mouth, like a savory steak, juicy and cooked just right.

"Oh wow!" Chuck exclaimed. "Its good!" He continued to eat the cube until it was gone. He finished off the globe until it was gone. Another globe appeared a few minutes later in his cell. "You guys are being very paranoid. If they kill us I don't think we can stop them."

"That is a fatalistic attitude, Chuck. Something worse than poison could be in those things." Sarah said.

But an hour passed and Chuck was fine. He had been exploring his cage as well, not looking for a way out but looking at everything beyond the cage. The aliens had left the room some minutes after Chuck had finished eating and had not yet returned. The only things beyond the cages to see were the walls that glowed softly, and the floor.

When after the hour had passed and nothing untoward had happened to Chuck, only then did Casey and Sarah eat and drink their food.

Eventually needs pressed them ignore any embarrassment and relieve themselves in a corner of the cage only to discover a stranger aspect of the cages. Human waste never touched the floor, instead it passed right through it as if it didn't even exist. Beneath their knees, the floor was still as solid as stone.

A few hours later the aliens returned. Once again they called up the holograms that they manipulated with their hands. They called up the holograms around their prisoners one at a time. Chuck continued to watch them while Casey and Sarah sat with their backs against the wall separating their cages and talked in a low voice giving each other reports on what they could see and had discovered about their cage, as well as what the food and water had tasted like and their experiences behind the holograms.

 

Eventually the aliens left the room again and the lights in the room began to dim until the room was dark with just a faint glow from the walls.

"I guess its night time." Chuck said looking around in the dark.

"We should get some sleep." Sarah said.

"I am too excited to sleep, wait till I tell Morgan about this! He's going to freak out." Chuck said.

"Moron, you won't be able to tell him anything." Casey said. "And if you're too excited to sleep then why don't you keep watch for awhile. When you start to get tired then wake me up."

"Okay." Chuck said as he watched Casey and Sarah settle themselves on the floor to sleep. Within minutes the two agents were fast asleep, Casey lying on his back with one hand resting on his stomache and Sarah on her side her head pillowed on her arm. Chuck watched them sleep for a minute then turned his attention to the area outside their cages.

With the light off there wasnt' much to see, and eventually Chuck became bored. He settled himself in the corner where the wall separating his cage from Casey's met another wall and thought about the coding for a computer game based off the room and the aliens. Glancing at Casey, Chuck thought he might even make a character that used different guns to blast the aliens to bits while spouting one liners. The thought made his chuckle for a moment.

Time passed and the coding was starting to make him sleepy. He yawned then made himself move around the cage to try to keep himself awake. He didn't think a lot of time had passed and didn't want to deprive Casey of too much sleep it might make him surly. Eventually he settled back into the corner stifling another yawn.

"You should have just woke me up." Casey's voice made Chuck jump from startlement.

"You scared the hell out of me." Chuck accused.

"You're suppose to be keeping watch, Moron." Casey said. "Never mind, go to sleep. I will keep watch now."

Chuck yawned, "I am not going to argue." He laid down with his back to Casey and rested his head on his arm.

He was awakened some hours later when the lights slowly came back on and the doors opened to admit the aliens into the room.

Chuck sat up and looked over to his fellow inmates. Casey was asleep and Sarah was awake. Chuck then looked at the aliens who had brought with them a strange looking device that floated a few feet above the ground. It looked like a flat bed made from the same material as their cell walls. Around it lengthwise was a large ring made of metal that had tubes along the ring.

"That looks really scary." Chuck said.

"Casey wake up." Sarah said pounding on the wall between her cage and Casey's. The big NSA agent never stirred. "Casey!" She beat on the wall harder.

"Casey?" Chuck went immediatly to the wall that separated his from his NSA handler. "Casey! Wake up!" Is he dead?"

"No I can see him breathing but he won't wake up. Casey doesn't sleep deeply like this." Sarah answered.

The aliens ignored Chuck's and Sarah's beating on the walls to tr and wake Casey. Instead they touched their transparent screens with thier fingers and suddenly Casey vanished from his cage in a flash of purple light only to reappear lying on the device's flat bed face down.

"What are they doing to him!" Sarah yelled as she and Chuck moved to the closest places in their cells to where the device held Casey.

One of the aliens walked over to the device and pushed several hologram keys on what looked ot be a monitor on the device. The tubes along the ring opened up and long needles lowered down from the tube housing until their pierced through Casey's body along his spine from the base of his skull above the metal collar to his tailbone.

At the sight of the needles, Chuck began to feel lightheaded. Watching them enter Casey's body made him vomit. Luckily the vomit dissapeared through the floor of the cage like other human waste did.

"Oh my god," Sarah whispered in horror. Just above the needles was a clear tube where a liquid dripped one drop at a time from the tube above it. Whatever the strange liquid was there was no doubt that it was being put into Casey's body.

The procedure took hours. Fortunatly, Casey was unconscious throughout the entire process. When the liquid stopped dripping down from the housing, the needles slowly exited Casey's body and were pulled up into the housing. The aliens had been busy with their screen the entire time and when the needles were gone, they transported Casey back into his cage.

Sarah and Chuck immediatly moved to their respective walls that bordered Casey's and looked at thier fellow captive. His back was covered in bruises from the needles.

"Casey, wake up." Sarah yelled beating on the wall.

There was a groan from the NSA agent, and Casey's hand twitched. Slowly Casey opened his eyes and looked up at Chuck who he happened to be facing.

Chuck smiled seeing that Casey was awake, but he was also terrified, wondering what the injections had done to him. "Casey?" He asked hesitantly.

"What's going on?" Casey asked. "My back hurts and I can barely move."

"They put needles in your back and gave you some kind of chemical. Your back is bruised badly. Can you still feel your legs?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah I can feel my extremeties." Casey said as he slowly moved to a sitting position, ignoring the pain in his back.

Outside the cages in the room the aliens took the device away leaving the captive by themselves for the moment.

 

Eventually they returned with another contraption that looked like two chairs back to back with a metal box hovering over it. This time Chuck and Sarah suddenly fell into a deep sleep and where transported out of their cages to reappear sitting in one of the chairs. Casey dragged himself over to the cage wall. He beat on the wall with his fist yelling at the aliens to leave them alone. The aliens ignore him and caused needles to leave the housing and inplant themselves in the Chuck's and Sarah's necks at the base of the skull.

The procedure took nearly a half an hour then the aliens made Sarah and Chuck reappear in their respective cages. Eventually they both woke up.

Casey told them what had happened to them.

"They are experimenting on us." Chuck said shocked.

"Should we execute plan Delta 7 Niner?" Sarah asked Casey.

"If one of us could reach Bartowski I would say yes, but we can't leave him." Casey said.

Chuck flashed at the words Sarah had said. "You want to kill yourselves." Chuck said his eyes looking at them sadly.

"That would be the plan, but Casey's right neither one of us can reach you..." Sarah trailed off.

"To kill me you mean." Chuck said. "Is it that hopeless."

They didn't have to answer him, Chuck knew that it was.

The three captives sat silently in thier respective cages. When the food and water appeared they just ignored it.

"Starting to wish I had woken up in the underground bunker." Chuck said. "At least I would be wearing clothes." He laughed a little at his own comment. A hollow laugh.

"It wouldn't have been for long." Sarah said. Casey looked at her in surprise. Chuck turned his head to look at both his handlers.

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked.

"Casey and I had a plan to get you out. It would have taken a few days but it would have worked. At least we think it would have." Sarah explained.

Chuck was shocked, "You guys were going to break me out?

"No. We had come up with a plan to make it imperative that you be out of the bunker to help us. It doesn't matter now. Beckman probably thinks we went rogue." Casey answered.

"Or that Fulcrum captured us." Sarah put in.

There were several minutes of silence and then finally Chuck asked in a quiet voice, "What are we going to do now?"

Neither spy had an answer for him.

Hours later the three of them were awakened when the ship lurched throwing them against the sides of their cages. The sound of explosions outside the room and the blast of alarms had Casey and Sarah in combat mode ready to fight to protect thier asset. The ship rocked again and then again. Lights suddenly flickered then went out in the room.

The two aliens rushed into the room in time for four new species of aliens to materialize in the room. The new aliens were insectlike standing at about nine feet tall with six legs holding up the jointed bodies and two sets of legs that had a set of claws at the end. The two smaller aliens had a defeated look about their shoulders as they were surrounded by the insectoids. The ship had stopped rocking and everything seemed to be powered down. One of the insect aliens turned its head and looked at the three human captives with its multifaceted eyes. It made a clicking noise with its mouth and Chuck realized that it was speaking in its language to the other insects.

"What's going on?" Chuck asked not really expecting an answer.

"Those two little Dr. Frankensteins' are being arrested." Casey said.

"How can you tell?" Chuck asked.

"Its just a guess. They seem pretty subdued."

Two of the insectoids dematerialized in a bright orange light along with the two smaller aliens. The remaining aliens moved about the room calling up the holograms that the two grey aliens had used during their experiments. One of the insectoids had a thin pad in its claw that it held upto the holograms.

"I think they are downloading the information." Chuck said.

"If Casey is right and the two grey aliens were being arrested then these guys are probably gathering evidence." Sarah said.

"Unless these guys are planning on taking over the experimenting." Casey put in.

"What..." Whatever Chuck was about to say was interrupted when then three of them suddenly dissapeared from thier individual cages in flashes of orange light.

They reappeared in a larger cage made of the same transparent material. This cage was tall enough that even Casey could stand without his head brushing the ceiling. It was also bigger than the three cages they had been in put together.

Outside the cage were other cages that held strange creatures while others stood empty. Insectoid aliens moved through the area holding the cages tapping on glowing devices attached to each cage. The creatures in the cages did not seem bothered by their surroundings. There was no frantic pacing or hurling themselves against the walls.

The area in which the cages were kept was a huge room with ceilings that looked to be five or six stories high. Catwalks and clear elevators were used to reach the uppper stories were doors opened and closed automatically. Subdued lights produced more shadows but the aliens seemed to see just fine in the darkened areas.

"Wow." Chuck said as he looked around. "This ship is huge. You could fit five or six Buy More's in this room."

"Do you think the experimenting is over?" Sarah asked Casey.

Casey shrugged. "We have no way of knowing."

"We're together now. One of us could..." Sarah couldn't say it.

"No no wait a minute time out on the Delta 7 Niner plan." Chuck said putting his hands in the classic time out position. "There will be no killing of the Intersect, cause for all we know these guys will take us back home to Earth."

"And if they don't, and they start experimenting on us as well what then Bartowski?" Casey asked.

"Then we can maybe rethink the plan. But you thought those grey aliens were being arrested, so maybe they were. Maybe these guys are like the alien version of the CIA or NSA."

Casey grunted at that.

"Casey it won't hurt us to wait and find out. Hopefully Chuck is right." Sarah put in.

"Fine, we wait."

With that the three of them began to explore the cage further. The floor was like the other cages had been with human waste passing through it without even touching it, even so they designated one corner of the cell for such neccesity. Chuck kept looking outside the cell at the parts of the ship they could see and the aliens that moved purposely around them.

At one point one of the aliens tapped on the pad attached to the outside of their cage. Several of the food and water sources appeared in the cage. The three of them took the time to seat themselves on the floor and partake of the food and water. Chuck looked to his left to see Casey sitting next to him with Sarah on Casey's left both of them intent on their food. Chuck wondered if Casey and Sarah would really kill him then kill themselves if they truly believed that their situation was hopeless. Then Chuck prayed that he wouldn't find out.

Time passed and eventually the lights dimmed further and the three of them readied themselves to sleep. Sarah volunteered to be the first to keep watch, so she stood unabashed by her nudity near the wall that looked out over most of the ship while behind her Chuck and Casey laid down on the floor within about five feet of each other.

Eventually the two men fell asleep and Sarah looked at them while keeping a watch for any sign that one of the aliens might enter their cell. Chuck was restless in sleep and kept turning over as if trying to find a comfortable spot. Sarah watched in bemusement as Chuck's shifting brought him ever closer to where Casey lay on his back one hand resting behind his head and the other laying over his chest.

Eventually Chuck stopped moving. Probably because he ran out of room to move, Sarah thought in amusement as she could see that Chuck now lay pressed with his back against Casey who surprisingly hadn't woken up.

Eventually the time came and she woke Casey so that he could take his turn at watch. Casey narrowed his eyes when he discovered Chuck, but just shook his head and got up to take his place at watch while Sarah laid down in Casey's spot feeling the warmth in the floor left over from Casey's body.

Sarah figured that Chuck had moved in his sleep seeking protection unconsciously and perhaps even human contact in an otherwise non-human world. With her own body snuggled against Chuck's back, Sarah eventually fell asleep.

Chuck was awakened by Casey some time later to take his own turn at watching. Yawning, Chuck turned over surprised to find Sarah asleep against his back. Chuck nodded at Casey and went to stand against the wall that they had unsconsciously designated for standing watch while Casey laid down a few feet away from Sarah.

Now it was Chuck's turn to watch as Sarah moved unsconscioulsy closer and closer to Casey, until eventually Sarah was laying against Casey's left side.

Like Sarah, Chuck thought nothing of it thinking that Sarah was cold and was drawn to Casey's body heat.

Eventually Chuck got tired of watching the darkness outside of the cage. He walked around and saw that the other creatures in their cages were asleep. Eventually his ambling brought him to where Casey and Sarah were asleep.

Chuck gazed down at his naked handlers. After being in that state for so long, Chuck had become used to seeing their bodies. Though there were still times that Chuck wanted to use his hands to cover himself, he had noticed from the begining that neither of the agents had been bothered by their own nudity. Chuck wondered if that was some of kind of training given to agents.

His eyes wondered over them, noticing that Sarah was indeed a natural blonde, and that Casey was big in all areas. Chuck felt that he should be blushing at his frank appraisal but there was no warmth in his cheeks. Chuck felt almost as if he were looking at two statues carved by a famous artist admiring the finer details that the artist had added like the scar on Casey's upper thigh or the mole on Sarah's buttcheek.

Eventually Chuck sat down on Casey's right. He was surprised that neither agent woke up at his movements or staring. As he sat down, Chuck reached out his hand toward's Casey's face and stopped himself before touching the bigger agent. Chuck was confused by his reaction and placed his hand back in his lap. He sat and waited for the lights to brighten his hip touching Casey's right arm.

 

Casey was the first to awaken noticing right away that Chuck was asleep when he should have been awake. Since Chuck was only an asset not an agent, Casey decided to let the fact that Chuck was asleep on duty go. The fact that both Chuck and Sarah were cuddled up against him on either side of him was what disturbed Casey the most. With a grunt, Casey stood up and went to the designated corner to relieve himself. His movement woke Sarah who sat up and looked around. Seeing Casey with his back to them in the corner, Sarah turned her head to give the NSA agent what privacy she could. She looked over at Chuck who was sound asleep. She heard Casey come up behind her.

"Its not his fault, Casey. He isn't trained to stand guard." Sarah said.

"I know." Casey answered. "What I want to know is why you two suddenly think I am some kind of living teddy bear."

Sarah looked at him in confusion, and Casey realised that Sarah had no idea what he was talking about.

"When I woke up the two of you were cuddled against me on either side. It was disconcerting to say the least."

"I am sorry, Casey but I don't think either Chuck or I realized we had done that." Sarah said.

Casey grunted but let the subject drop. Despite what others thought, Casey wasn't stupid, he had Master's degree from the Citadel. They were in an alien enviroment and Casey knew that both Sarah and Chuck were unsconsciously seeking human contact. That Casey was that human contact was a bit unnerving to the agent.

Before he could say anything however the strangest thing happened. From the ceiling a shower of warm water fell upon them.

Chuck yelped and came awake instantly. "What the hell!" He shouted.

Casey noticed that as the water fell upon their skin it lathered up as if the water was mixed with soap.

"Its a shower." Casey said as he started using his hands to lather up his body with the soapy water. It felt damn good to be clean after so long.

Sarah took the hint and began to lather herself up as well. After a bit of embarrassed hesitance, Chuck followed Casey and Sarah's example.

The three of them cleaned themselves thoroughly and eventually the soapy warm water turned to just warm water that rinsed away the soap, sweat and waste from their bodies leaving them clean for the first time since their capture.

The water had never touched the floor falling through it just like the waste did. When the water stopped, the three of them had no choice but to air dry. Fortunatly the air in the cage wasn't cold.

Sarah finger combed through her hair as she sat on the floor. Chuck was seated a few inches in front of her watching her as she tried to untangle her wet hair. Casey prowled around the perimeter of the cage.

"Well the shower was nice." Chuck said trying to break the silence.

Sarah smiled and answered, "Yes it was but I wish they would have a comb appear like the food does."

Chuck laughed at that. "If we are wishing for something to appear I would like to add clothes to the list."

"I think your clothes and my comb must have gotten lost." Sarah said when food and water appeared in the cage.

She reached over and took one of the food cubes and started eating. Casey came over and sat down rubbing his neck beneath the collar before taking up a food cube. The three of them ate and drank in silence.

"The food tastes good, but I would love some sizzling shrimp right now."Chuck said. "Or even a pizza."

"I wouldn't mind having some shrimp curry with fried rice." Sarah said.

"That sounds good. Though I prefer the shrimp tamarind with some spring rolls." Chuck added.

Casey rolled his eyes at their conversation.

"And if you could have any food you wanted Casey what would you order?" Chuck asked.

"Pass." Casey answered not wanting to be brought into their game.

"Aw come on, I bet its something like beef teriyaki or crab rolls." Chuck said.

"No." Casey answered.

"Well then what?" Chuck asked.

Casey grunted in exasperation knowing Chuck wouldn't leave him alone until he answered. "Fine I would like some sour cream chicken enchiladas and tamales."

"Wow, little surprised there big guy." Chuck said.

Casey shrugged. "There was a lady in Costas Gravas who made some really good ones. She was the mother of one of the revolutionaries I was working with at the time. She made her own tortillas and tamales. Damn good."

"Costas Gravas, when were you there?" Sarah asked.

"In '83." Casey said his body language telling Sarah he wasn't going to say anymore.

Chuck was about to continue the conversation when both Casey and Sarah tensed. Chuck looked over at where they were staring and saw on of the insectoids enter the cage walking through the wall as if it wasn't even there.

Casey and Sarah stood immediatly and Casey shoved Chuck behind them in an attempt to protect their asset.

The alien seem unconcerned about Casey and Sarah's defensive postures, though it was hard to read any emotion or thoughts on the insect face.

The creature moved to where it stood in front of Casey then reached out with one claw grasping the metal collar around Casey's neck. Casey immediatly tried to break the creature's grip only to find out just how strong the insect was. The alien then used another claw to attach what appeared to be a leash made from a golden material to the collar ignoring Sarah's and Chuck's attempts to get the alien to release Casey.

The moment the golden leash was attached to the collar, Casey felt a strange lethargy over his body. Try as he might, Casey could not move any part of his body below his head. He said so to Sarah and Chuck.

"What have they done to him." Sarah said. She had a hold of the aliens clawed hand that suddenly release the collar. Another alien entered the cage and picked up both Chuck and Sarah and moved them away from the alien who had leashed Casey.

Sarah and Chuck struggled in the insects grasp to no avail. The first insectoid turned and headed out of the cage. Casey's legs seemingly of their own volition forced his to follow the insect. Casey tried to regain control of his body but it was a losing battle. As he came up to the wall Casey expected to hit is only to find himself passing through it as easily as the alien had done. Once they were outside of the cage, the second insectoid released Sarah and Chuck then walked out of the cage. Sarah and Chuck tried to follow only to be brought up short by a very solid transparant wall.

They watched as long as they could as Casey followed the insectoid to an elevator that took them to the very top of the room and then dissapeared through a door.

Casey had no choice but to follow the insectoid as it marched through the cooridor beyond the huge room filled with cages. He could only move his head, the rest of his body not under his control. He used that to turn his head to look around the ship as they moved down the cooridor to yet another elevator. Casey didn't know if they went up or down, as the ride was completely smooth. When the door opened they went down another cooridor turning and twisting as it did until they reached a large door where two insectoids stood guard.

The insectoid holding his leash went through the doors the guards not even attempting to bar the way. Inside the room, Casey got his first glimpse of proof that they were really in space. The rooms walls were transparent. Beyond those walls was the darkest depths of space. Stars and galaxys were the only light in the heavy blackness. Casey forced himself to stop looking out at the surrounding darkness and focused on what was in the room.

An arch shaped table dominated the room. Behind the table sat or stood nine different species of aliens. One was an insectoid that was bigger than any of the other insectoids and had what looked like wings along its body. Around the insectoid were other aliens so bizarre that Casey wasn't sure he could describe them. Some looked avian or reptilian in nature while other looked like no animal species he had ever seen.

In front of the arced table was a circular area that was highlighted by lights in the floor. In that circular area stood the two grey aliens flanked by insectoids.

The insectoid holding his leash walked foward and Casey had no choice but to follow. Another circular area lit up and Casey was brought to that area. Once in that area. The insectoid dropped the leash to the ground but before Casey could regain control of his own body he was paralyzed as holographic images surrounded him. Though Casey could barely get a glimpse of them he did not think they were like the holographic images of body systems that the grey aliens had done. Instead some of it looked like alien writing.

Casey instead looked at the creatures behind the table who appeared to be watching the holograms with interest. Though it was hard to read alien faces, the avian type creatures appeared angry like hawks whose nests have been robbed. When the holograms dissapeared the insectoid was quick to retain control of the leash and thus of Casey's ability to move his limbs. Casey was then taken to the table where the aliens could look at him closer. Eventually the winged insectoid who Casey suspected was the Queen of their hive nodded its head and clicked in its language to the one holding Casey's leash. The insectoid then bowed its upper body and turned and left taking Casey with it.

Casey began to suspect that he had just left a courtroom where he had been one of the main pieces of evidence used against the defendants.

 

Casey told Chuck and Sarah what had happened to him once he was returned to the cell. He even told them his speculations that it had been a courtroom and the two grey aliens were on trial.

"Maybe once the trial is over and we aren't needed for evidence they will take us back to Earth." Chuck said.

"Maybe." Sarah said. She had her doubts but didn't want to express them in front of Chuck.

"When we get back what is going to happen?" Chuck asked.

"I don't know Chuck. I don't think the General would believe us about this." Sarah answered.

"If we get back I don't think we can go to the General." Casey said. Sarah looked at him in surprise.

"Think about it Walker, we have no idea how long we've been gone. The General probably thinks we went rogue and the longer she can't find us the more likely she will think it. If we get back the best we can hope for is a quick bullet to the head."

Sarah nodded at that. "If we get back we will have to go rogue."

"You mean I won't get to see Ellie or Morgan again?" Chuck asked.

"We can check on them but I don't think it will be safe to get close to them, I am sure Beckman has them watched." Sarah told him.

"Of course this is all pointless specualation if these aliens decide to keep us rather than letting us go." Casey said.

"Why would they keep us?" Chuck asked.

"Do you have any idea what those experiments did to us?" Casey asked Chuck. Chuck shook his head. "Of course not and neither do I, but what if its something that can be detected by our own doctors? You think aliens would want our planet to know about them?"

Chuck hadn't thought of that.

Before they could continue the conversation, they were interrupted by three aliens entering their cell.

Team Bartowski stood when the aliens entered the cell pushing Chuck behind them as they did. Each of the aliens went to one of the humans with one of the golden leashes that they had used earlier on Casey. The aliens grasped the metal bands on each of the three humans and attached the leash to the silvery metal. Once the leashes were attached the three of them lost the ability to control their bodies below their necks.

"Oh wow this is so not cool. My legs are moving by themselves!" Chuck said as he, Sarah and Casey were led out of the cage and toward one of the elevators.

Chuck and Sarah were being led by the leashes attached to their wrists but their arms remained at their sides the leash giving them plenty of lead. They were taken up an elevator and out of the room into a cooridor. Casey mentioned that it looked like the same cooridor he had gone down before.

Eventually they ended up in the room that showed the dark space outside the ship only the view was a bit different as there was a large brown and yellow planet taking up most of the view.

The nine aliens were still seated or standing behind the arced desk and the three humans were brought before them to be placed in the lighted circle. The grey aliens were no where to be seen.

Two of the insectoids holding the leashes of Casey and Sarah handed those leashes to the other insectoid that held Chuck's leash. The two unencumbered insectoids then produced black hoods that they placed over Casey and Sarah's heads.

"What are they doing. Oh God please don't kill them!" Chuck begged the aliens thinking the hoods looked like execution masks.

The insectoids stepped out of the circle and the one holding the leashes dropped them. Before they could retain the use of their limbs they were paralyzed by a light as a hologram appeared in front of Chuck.

The hologram changed showing different strange pictures. Chuck was frozen in place, his eyes caught on the pictures unable to even blink. He knew what this was, he had felt it twice before only this one was different. The images were being downloaded much more smoothly, Chuck wasn't even feeling the slightest headache. When it was done, Chuck did not faint. He did not feel disoriented or sick.

"Chuck what happened?" Sarah asked from beneath the hood.

"I..I think I just recieved another intersect." Chuck answered.

 

Before his handlers could say anything to that, they were all surrounded by a purple light and when the light died they were back inside the cage. Once they had control of their bodies, Casey and Sarah immediatly removed the hoods from their heads and stared at Chuck.

"An Intersect? Are you sure?" Sarah asked.

"That's what it felt like. Except it didn't hurt like the one Bryce sent me or the update he gave me with the sunglasses." Chuck said. He gestured to the room significantly and added, "Probably because thier technology is light years ahead of our own."

"Have you flashed on anything?" Casey asked.

"Not yet, but I haven't really looked at anything." Chuck answered.

"Look around and see if flash on anything."

Chuck nodded then stealed himself as he looked outside thier cage at the huge room that Chuck was beginning to think of as a cargo bay. When he looked at one of the creatures in on of the other cages he felt the familiar sensation of a flash overcome him.

"Those are called gro'to'oghs," he practically growled the unfamiliar word, "they are from a planet that has no intelligent life, but it has a vast ecosystem with millions of different kinds of plant and animal life."

"Why would the aliens give him an intersect." Sarah asked looking at Casey.

Casey shook his head. "I don't know but I wish one of those insects would show up so Chuck could flash on them."

"Do you really think they put information of themselves in this Intersect?" Chuck asked.

"Why not. What other reason would there be to give it to you." Casey said.

Chuck shrugged, "Maybe just to test it."

Before Casey could answer however, he got his wish. One of the insectoid aliens came up to the cage and stood waiting. Chuck took one look at the creature and began to flash. The flash was a long one, and when it was done Chuck looked to be in shock. Casey was quick to catch Chuck before he fell over and helped his asset to sit on the floor.

Both Casey and Sarah knelt beside Chuck waiting for him to recover from the flash.

Eventually Chuck looked up at his handlers, "We are never going back home." He said sadly.

"How do you know?" Sarah asked ignoring the pain in her chest from Chuck's words.

"Casey was right. The experiments those aliens did to us, if the General or Fulcrum ever discovered what had been done they would..." Chuck trailed off. He knew his handlers would understand the implications.

"What was done to us?" Casey asked.

"I'm not sure I..." Chuck didn't know how to explain what he had seen. His eyes filled with tears as he looked at his handlers. Ironic, Chuck thought, they were his handlers and now he was the handler.

"Chuck what is it?" Sarah asked worried about the tears she saw in his brown eyes.

"Weapons, they were trying to create weapons. They succeeded." Chuck whispered.

"How, how did they make weapons?" Casey asked.

"You and Sarah, mostly you Casey but Sarah is...oh God I am going to be sick." Chuck leaned over and threw up his vomit passing through the floor.

"Let's give him a moment, Casey." Sarah said. Surprisingly Casey nodded in agreement.

Sarah rubbed Chuck's back as Chuck dry heaved a few times. Eventually Chuck calmed down and was able to continue the explanation.

"We were all given a symbiote. Each of our symbiotes is different but related genetically. They were created in the lab." Chuck said.

"We have some kind of parasite in our bodies?" Casey asked disgusted at the thought.

"Not a parasite. Parasites destroy the host, this is a symbiote it lives in harmony with the host." Chuck explained. "The symbiote's one goal is to survive. It can't survive outside our bodies. For it to live we have to live. The aliens made these symbiotes and gave them the ability to manipulate DNA."

"These things inside us are changing our DNA?" Sarah asked shocked.

Chuck nodded. "Its slow going. They implanted the symbiotes the moment they captured us. The chemical they gave us was to help the symbiote in changing our DNA. It will take some time before we see what the end result will be."

"What did you mean before. You said we were weapons, Casey more than me."

"The symbiote wants to live, so its going to make you and Casey stronger, faster and able to heal better. The aliens wanted weapons, innocuous weapons that their enemies would never guess were weapons. You and Casey would have been sent to their enemies as gifts and then both of you would have been unleashed upon them."

"You said Casey more than me, what did you mean?" Sarah asked.

"Casey is the one that will be the most changed. I am not sure exactly how, but that is what the Intersect told me."

The three of them were silent as they took in that information.

Several minutes later Casey asked the question Chuck had been dreading, "Where do you come in to this?"

"They needed a way to control thier weapons." Chuck whispered.

Casey and Sarah both looked shocked at the implication.

The two agents stopped their interrogation. They weren't sure they wanted to know any more and they were having a difficult time dealing with what they already knew. Eventually Chuck laid down and tried to sleep. Sarah and Casey sat in opposite corners their attention turned inward trying to understand what Chuck had told them.

Food and water appeared but was ignored. Eventually all three occupants slipped into sleep.

 

Sarah was the first to awaken. She was shocked to discover that she was laying with her back against Casey who was lying spooned up behind her, one arm thrown over waist and his other arm was her pillow. She also felt a hand laying on her hip. She lifted her head and turned to look to find Chuck was spooned up behind Casey, nose pressed against the back of Casey's neck, one arm over Casey's waist with the hand resting on Sarah's hip.

Casey is going to freak when he wakes up, Sarah thought as she carefully extracted herself from Casey's embrace.

Once Chuck's hand no longer had her hip to rest upon, it curled up and rested against Casey's stomach just above his groin. Chuck grunted in his sleep as he snuggled closer to Casey. Casey started to stir and move around when Chuck mumbled something that sounded like, 'its too early, go back to sleep."

Surprisingly Casey settled back into sleep. Sarah wished she had a camera, this was better material then the picture she got of Casey handcuffed to the bed in the hotel room thanks to Carina.

Remembering what had woken her up, Sarah went to the corner of the cage to relieve herself. When she was done she went back to where Chuck and Casey were still fast alseep.

She debated waking them up. Casey was not going to be happy about the sleeping arrangements. Chuck would no doubt be embarrassed as well especially since she could see that part of Chuck's body was rather enjoying the heat from Casey's body and was trying its best to snuggle in deeper.

Deciding she had better wake Chuck first, she leaned over and touched the Intersect's shoulder and shook it gently. "Chuck, wake up."

Chuck moaned and slowly opened his eyes. He blinked up at Sarah then smiled. Sarah smiled back then suddenly Chuck frowned as he realized that Sarah was kneeling behind him. He then turned his head and saw who he was snuggled up against. Chuck's face turned red and he slowly withdrew from Casey sliding away on his butt using one hand to hide his growing erection.

Casey amazingly didn't wake up. Sarah frowned at that. Casey was not a heavy sleeper. Knowing better than to wake him up by shaking him, Sarah spoke to Casey, "Casey wake up."

Casey came awake instantly sitting up and turning to look at Sarah. "Walker what is it?" He was alert and poised to attack.

"Stand down. You were just sleeping too heavily I was afraid they had drugged you." Sarah said.

Casey looked around noticing Chuck sitting against the wall his face flushed. "You alright, Bartowski?"

Chuck's face went even redder but he answered, "I'm fine." Casey noticed that Chuck was covering himself. Inwardly Casey rolled his eyes, Bartowski's embarrassed by a little morning wood.

Deciding to intervene before Chuck died of embarrassment and Csey discovered the reason Chuck was unable to look Casey in the eye, Sarah asked Chuck, "Are you up to answering more questions about your flash?"

"I guess so." Chuck said.

Both Casey and Sarah seated themselves near Chuck so they could talk. "You said yesterday that we were never going back to Earth. Do you know what these aliens plan to do with us?" Sarah asked.

"They are still debating that one." Chuck said. "Those nine aliens around the table, they are all leaders of thier races. They represent the oldest races in the universe. These guys were exploring the universe before Earth had life on its surface. They are part of Confederation of worlds that they either accepted into their protection or conquered. They have strict laws on how they deal with non-space faring races like humans. Those other aliens violated the laws by experimenting on us without permission from the government and by creating a biological weapon."

"Wait they give permission to experiment on humans?" Casey said.

"Yeah, but they have to be humane about it. They can't cause pain and suffering and the experiment can't leave lasting scars or changes so that the human can be returned to Earth without anyone the wiser."

Casey grunted at that.

"Are they planning to put us down?" Sarah asked.

"That was one of their thoughts. Some of the council thought it be more humane." Chuck answered. "Or whatever they would call it since they aren't human."

"What other choices are they deciding on?" Casey asked.

"One of the alien races has a, I guess you would call it a zoo, on their homeworld that is amazing. They have creatures from all over the universe and the exhibits are huge and the animals there are treated very well."

"A zoo they are going to put us in a zoo." Casey growled.

"Like I said they are debating the issue. There's another idea though that doesn't sound as bad. The insectoid aliens have this moon that orbits their homeworld. Some alien species are space-faring but they aren't as developed as other aliens. The only reason they are in space is because they are usually war-like and violent and their wars developed their technology further a long than they should be. When they got out into space they tried to fight against the more advanced races or they committed alot of crimes. Anyway, those that were captured were placed on this moon where they have limited technology and can't ever leave. They've been there so long that they've created societies. the insectoids keep watch over them and make sure they don't develop anything more sophisticated than a windmill and can't start any wars. They are thinking of putting us on this moon to live out the rest of our lives." Chuck explained.

"You're right that sounds better than a zoo." Sarah said.

Chuck shrugged, "Those are the choices they are debating."

"What about these changes you told us about? Is there anything more you can tell us?" Casey asked.

"I don't know that information seems to come back to me slowly. As if I read the book years ago and I am just now starting to remember the plot. No Intersect information has ever been like that. I think its something the aliens did deliberatly." Chuck answered.

"Why?" Casey asked.

Chuck chrugged, "I don't know."

Food and water appeared in the cell and the three of them stopped the Q&A session to eat.

When the food was gone, Chuck explored the area outside of the cage. He looked at the other creatures in the other cages and flashed on them as he had the gro'to'oghs. The information he learned about each of the animal species was interesting but didn't help them in the least. Chuck mentioned the names of the some of the animals to Casey and Sarah and gave a bit of a description. They listened quietly not asking any questions. The two agents had silently agreed to allow Chuck to tell them what he knew at his own pace.

"All these creatures are destined for that zoo I mentioned earlier. They have several mated pairs already in hopes of keeping the species alive. They even have earth animals at the zoo, some that we thought were extinct." Chuck said. "That is so cool. They have mammoths! I would like to see those."

Sarah smiled at Chuck enthusiasm. She herself did not want to end up in the zoo, but if they did they would survive. At least they would have each other for company. She wondered if they would try and breed her. The thought made her shudder.

Chuck saw the shudder and was quick to ask, "Sarah are you alright?"

"Yes Chuck, I am fine I was just thinking..." She trailed off not wanting to voice her thoughts.

"About the zoo?" Casey asked.

"Yes." She sighed then elaborated, "I was thinking they might breed us like those other creatures."

Chuck opened his mouth, closed it then swallowed. After a few seconds he answered, "They couldn't even if they wanted to."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"We've been sterilized." Chuck answered.

Sarah gasped in shock. She had never really thought about having children, though she had wondered idly what it would be like, but to have the choice taken from her.

"I am sorry." Chuck said as he went over to her and hugged her. Surprisingly Sarah leaned into the hug trying not to cry.

Casey wisely said nothing.

Eventually Sarah got control of herself and they separated with Sarah wiping her eyes.

Time passed. The three captives moved restlessly about the cage. Casey and Sarah excercised in an attempt to keep in fighting condition but also to relieve some of the boredom. Chuck unable to keep quiet just talked about different subjects. He wondered what Morgan and Ellie were doing. He hoped that they were alright. Chuck told them about how Ellie had taken care of him when their mother left. He talked about how Morgan and he became friends.

Normally Chuck's inane chatter annoyed Casey, but the NSA agent let Chuck ramble on strangely content to hear Chuck's voice in the background. Sarah would smile with each of the stories as she and Casey practiced some Tai Chi mirroring each other's movements.

Eventually more food and water appeared. They ate and drank then settled down to sleep. Casey took the first watch. Sarah and Chuck settled on the ground a few feet from each other. Some minutes after Chuck and Sarah were asleep Casey's eyes and body began to feel heavy and he knew he was being drugged. He slumped into unconsciousness before he could call out a warning to his partner and their asset.

Chuck was the first to slowly awaken. He felt the hard body that he was snuggled up against and still heavy with sleep he hugged the body closer to him and nuzzled the warm skin against his cheek. Then awareness came to him and he opened his eyes seeing for the first time that he was snuggled up against Casey's back and that Casey was clothed. Chucj felt the clothes around his own body as well. Carefully he sat up and looked around.

He was shocked to see an equally clothed Sarah wrapped in Casey's arms. He was also shocked to see that they were no longer in a cage but what looked to Chuck like a cave.

"Sarah, Casey wake up!"

The two highly trained agents came awake with a start. Though startled by the position they were in, the two ignored that sitting up and taking in their surroundings and the clothing they wore.

"Where are we?" Sarah asked. "What are we wearing?"

The clothing they all wore seemed to made of a combination of leather, fur and wool. They each wore a long sleeved shirt made of what appeared to be wool, a jacket made with leather and lined with fur, pants made from leather and fur lined boots. They had under clothing as well layered to help keep them warm. Which was a good thing as Chuck could tell that the air around them was cold.

Casey had stood up and was searching through what appeared to be three large packs made of leather. Chuck noticed that they had not been sleeping on the ground but on what looked to be bedrolls made from fur and wool and a large blanket made of wool and fur had been thrown over them.

"They chose the planet." Chuck said recognizing the pack and blankets from his flash.

"So we aren't at the zoo." Sarah said as she stood up and helped Casey search through the packs.

There was food in the packs, not the kind they had been given on the ship. The food in the packs looked like travel food, meat jerky, dried fruits that they didn't recognize. There was also a few more changes of clothing in each bag. Sarah found a large knife in one of the bags and was glad to finally have a weapon again. Each of the bags contained a knife, Casey had taken one as well and hid it in his clothing.

"What do we do, Chuck." She asked knowing that Chuck was the only one with the information about the planet.

"Well uhm they appear to be following the same rules with us as they do with all those they put on this planet. There should be a pouch of coins in each of the packs. Its the money that they use on this planet. Its primitive like I said. The aliens that live here don't have any real technology beyond a windmill or a pulley. Its almost medieval except no catapults or bows. The only weapons are small knives, swords, axes and spears. We should probably find one of the towns. We can get supplies there and maybe find a job or something." Chuck explained as he began to roll up the blankets. Sarah helped him while Casey walked out of the cave to look at the surrounding landscape.

He stepped back inside quickly, "Its still dark outside even with two moons I don't think it would be safe to travel at night. They do have daylight?" He asked.

"Yeah. Only one sun but its smaller than ours." Chuck answered. "This planet stays cold alot of the time. The plants they have here are adapted to that as are the animals. If fact alot of the animals here are pretty dangerous but they mostly hunt at night." Chuck looked at the pile of wood that he had noticed earlier. "Maybe we should start a fire."

Casey looked at the wood as well and nodded. "I will start the fire. Might as well lay those blankets back out, put mine in a corner though I am getting tired of being everyone's teddy bear."

Chuck didn't bother to tell Casey that it wouldn't matter were he went to sleep at.

As Casey started the fire using the flint and steel he had found in the packs, Sarah and Chuck laid out the bedrolls. They then dug through the packs and found some canteens filled with water and some kind of pressed ration bar made from something similiar to oats and honey. Once Casey had the fire banked so that it would last through the rest of the night, he went and sat down on the bedrolls with Sarah and Chuck and gratefully took the proffered food Sarah handed him.

They ate the food silently then settled down into the bedrolls to sleep. Casey grumbled that Chuck hadn't place his bedroll far away from them, but Chuck just said that it was better they were close for warmth and protection.

Eventually they woke up again, this time with daylight coming through the mouth of the cave. The fire had died down and Casey covered the hot coals with dirt making sure the fire was completely out while Sarah and Chuck rolled up the bedding and placed them in their packs.

Each of them shouldered a pack and then stepped outside the cave. With the light of the sun they could see before them a wilderness of needle leafed trees some as big as sequios. There was deep snow in the shadows of the trees and the river that cut through the forest was frozen over.

"Its still winter. The land stays cold all year around like Alaska but only in winter is the river frozen over. There's a town over there." Chuck pointed to were smoke rose from a walled town some ten miles away. The cave they had been staying in was on a hill that overlooked the area allowing them to see the land for miles. "We should probably head there. We can maybe find work or something."

Casey and Sarah agreed and the three of them headed down the hill and into the surrounding forest. Casey used the sun and some other landmarks to keep them going in the correct direction.

Eventually they came upon the iced over river and Chuck realized they had no choice but to cross it.

"We need to be careful here." He started to say as Casey and Sarah began crossing the ice.

He didn't get to finish his sentence because with a huge roar a white creature tore up out of the ice beneath them reaching out with huge claws to grab Sarah and pull her under the ice.

The creature however was thwarted when suddenly an inhuman roar came from Casey's direction. Sarah and Chuck both watched in horror as Casey's body changed into a huge cat-like creature with white fur that attacked the ice animal.

The ice bear as Chuck would call it was a big animal with a thick horn on its head that it used to break through the ice and a coat much like a seals that protected it from the cold water and was a formidible animal on the planet but it was no match for the white tiger like animal that ripped it to shreds within seconds.

When the ice bear was dead its body falling back into the water, the huge tiger-like creature turned its head to look at Sarah and Chuck with familiar blue eyes. Then as suddenly as he had changed to the creature, he changed back into his human body, naked but for the alien metal collar around his neck. Casey collapsed to his knees and Sarah and Chuck were quick to rush to his side.

Chuck pulled a blanket from his pack and wrapped it around Casey's naked shoulders. Casey looked up at Chuck with horror in his eyes, "What am I?" He whispered.

Luckily there were spare clothes for Casey in the packs. Sarah and Chuck had a difficult time getting Casey into the clothes. The NSA agent was in shock, body limp and his blue eyes dull.

Both Sarah and Chuck were worried about their friend and partner. Once they managed to get the clothes on him, Sarah and Chuck tried to help Casey to his feet. It wasn't as hard as they were expecting because Sarah was easily able to lift Casey by herself.

"Chuck, how?" She asked as stood there with Casey's arm over her shoulder, the big agent leaning against her smaller body.

"Your both weapons remember. The symbiote in you has made you stronger. You could probably pick him up." Chuck said.

Sarah found that hard to believe, Casey had to weigh at least 230 pounds. However, she was easily taking his weight as he leaned heavily against her.

Still she didn't take the chance, instead she supported Casey as they walked across the ice to the opposite shore where Chuck took out the bedrolls and blankets making a nest on the ground for her to lay Casey upon. They then wrapped Casey in blankets. The NSA agent was silent and unmoving.

"I think he will be alright, he's just in shock. He really needs to eat. I wish he had eaten that ice bear." Chuck said.

"Chuck, you wanted him to eat raw meat?" She was shocked.

"Its the best. His body and metabolism are changed greatly. Casey is a predator like a polar bear. When he changes he needs large amounts of meat to replace the energy he used." Chuck said. "If that ice bear's body were still here I would go and cut off some of its meat for Casey, but it dissapeared into the water."

"There's some jerky in the packs will that help?" Sarah asked.

"It will have to do. Maybe we should get a fire started." Chuck said as he rummaged through the packs digging out the jerky.

"I can do that. I will go collect some wood. How long are we going to stay here?" Sarah asked.

"Long enough for Casey to recover and come to back to us. Unless you wanna carry him?" Chuck gave her an amusing smile when he answered.

Sarah laughed a little at Chuck's smile. Then she quickly sobered as she stood to find some firewood.

While Sarah was out into the surrounding forest looking for wood, Chuck tried to get Casey to eat. At first the silent NSA agent refused but eventually hunger won out and Casey ate the dried jerky that Chuck handed him.

When the jerky was gone, Casey's eyes were more focused but he was still silent and still. Sarah returned with an armful of firewood. She dumped it on the ground then used her knife to scrape out a circle in the ground for the fire. Eventually using dried grass as tender and the flint and steel from the packs, Sarah got a fire started.

Chuck handed Sarah some dried fruit and pressed oat bars. Sarah and Chuck sat on either side of the bundled Casey watching over their partner as he slowly came back from the shock that had overtaken him upon returning to his human form.

Eventually Casey sat up, blankets still wrapped around him. His stomach was complaining loudly to him, but the jerky was gone and the fruit did little to take away the hunger.

"You should try and hunt something." Chuck said. His flash had unfolded to him even more upon seeing Casey shapeshift. He knew more about what was needed to care for his NSA handler and more about his own role in the new dynamic of the team.

Casey looked at Chuck. "Hunt. You mean change again and hunt something down to kill and eat it. I've hunted before mostly for survival but this...Am I nothing more than animal? Will I eventually forget that I am human?"

Chuck hurried to reassure Casey, "No you won't forget. You can control this change now that you've changed for the first time. You will always have your memories and no you are not an animal, you're John Casey."

Casey looked at Chuck and knew the Intersect wasn't lying to him. Casey could always tell when Chuck was lying because he wasn't that good at it. He nodded his head then took off the blankets.

Casey stood and removed his clothes not wanting to lose another set. Once he was naked, Casey reached inside himself for the beast that he could feel deep inside him. He then unleashed it from its prison.

Sarah and Chuck watched in amazement as Casey changed from human to animal. The creature that Casey became was as big as a horse, covered in white fur. The body shape was that of a heavily muscled tiger.

Casey looked at Chuck and Sarah with his blue eyes now in a cat's slitted shape. Then he lifted his head mouth open as he scented the air for prey. Gracefully, Casey bounded away from the camp into the forest around them dissapearing from view with a flick of a long white tail.

Chuck and Sarah waited around the fire using the blankets Casey had left to keep warm. They were silent at first but eventually Sarah felt she needed to know more.

"What other surprises have you not told us?" Sarah asked.

"I didn't know before. I told you its like I am remembering something and the pieces just seem to come to me. Its not a regular flash."

"What else has come back. What do you know, Chuck. Will I be able to change as well? You said we were both weapons, Casey and I."

"No you won't be able to change. But you are stronger now and alot faster. You can also heal just about any wound you recieve. Sarah you could probably take on an entire platoon of marines with your bare hands. I mean I know you were pretty good before, but now you are probably unstoppable now."

"And Casey?" She asked.

"He can also heal quickly in both forms. He's also stronger and faster. I think he's stronger than you but you're faster. Together I think you could probably take on the combined forces of the US. Do you see why the aliens couldn't let us go back. Beckman would have orgasms to have you guys on her team. Compared to that the Intersect is as obsolete as a ham radio."

"I really don't want to think about that woman having orgasms Chuck that's disgusting." Sarah said. "You haven't said. What about you?"

"Well no super strength or speed for me. I can heal though as well as you and Casey. " He stopped not wanting to tell Sarah any more.

"Chuck tell me." She could sense Chuck was hiding something.

"I told you before I am the handler. The control." He said and Sarah nodded. "Its literal. You and Casey don't have a choice. I have tried not give any orders, just suggestions. I don't like having that kind of control."

"Are you saying that if you gave an order Casey and I would both have to obey you?" Sarah asked.

Chuck nodded.

Sarah didn't know what else to say to that.

The conversation was interrupted however when Casey returned.

The big cat padded into the clearing carrying a deer like creature in his mouth. There was blood on his muzzle and paws. Casey dropped the dead animal on the ground. As he padded toward Chuck and Sarah he shifted from animal to man. Naked he knelt beside his pile of clothing and quickly dressed then took the knife from the pack and went back to the carcass.

"Casey did you eat?" Chuck asked worried about his ex-handler.

Casey nodded then knelt beside the carcass and began to use the knife to skin and dress the animal.

"Why did you bring that back then?" Sarah asked.

"To replace the jerky. The both of you need meat as well." Casey answered. He butchered the carcass bringing the bloody meat back to the camp to cook over the fire. What was left of the carcass he tossed into the hole in the ice where the ice bear had fallen.

He cleaned his hands in the freezing water then returned to the camp where Sarah was taking care of the cooking meat.

They stayed at the camp the rest of the day and then night cooking the meat for their travel.

Casey was full and didn't require any more food. Sarah and Chuck ate some of the meat as well as the fruit and pressed oat bars. Sarah told Casey what Chuck had told her.

"I am not surprised. Can't have weapons without some way of controlling them." Casey answered.

They slept that night as they had been sleeping every night since their capture.

The next day they continued to travel to the walled town they had seen from the cave. They decided not to stop but to continue. Sarah and Chuck would eat and drink as they walked. Casey drank from the canteens but didn't need any food his stomach still heavy from the kill he had made.

Eventually they made it to the walled town and got their first look at it close up.

The walls were made from wood and surrounded the town. The gates were open and two alien guards wearing clothing similiar to their own stood on either side of the gate.

Chuck looked at the aliens and flashed. With the flash came something that surprised Chuck. He would never have thought that he could flash on a skill, but when he thought about it it made sense that eventually that would be the directiont he Intersect could have taken.

The language skill that Chuck flashed on was a common language that all the aliens on the planet spoke beside their own language.

The alien guards were tall and bulky with snouts and tusks like pigs. Thier eyes were dark and looked at the newcomers warily. Their four-fingered grip on their spears tightened.

One of the guards asked Chuck their business in the common language. Chuck answered back telling the guards they were there for trade. The guards let them through.

"Chuck how could you speak their language?" Sarah asked. Chuck explained that the skill had come with a flash.

"That's amazing if only our Intersect could have done that." Sarah said.

"Would have helped a few times." Casey put in.

Chuck agreed with Casey on that.

They moved through the throng of people in the town. Chuck looked around flashing on aliens. The town had hard dirt packed streets surrounded by mostly wooden and a few stone buildings and homes. Some of the buildings were a combination of shops and homes with the shop being on the first floor and the owner's home being on the second floor and sometimes there was a third floor. No building was taller than three stories and only a few were that big. Aliens of different species past them staring at them curiously or sometimes with hostile looks. Casey and Sarah watched each alien wary of surprise attacks.

"What supplies should we buy, I wonder?" Chuck asked.

"Food, tools, cooking pots." Casey answered. He was looking around at the various shops and street vendors. As he did an idea began to form in his mind, but he decided to hold off on saying anything until he was sure the idea would work.

"Okay but shouldn't we look for a place to stay. An inn or something?" Chuck asked. He knew he wasn't knowledgeable enough to survive in this world. He was lucky to have Casey and Sarah there.

"I don't think we want to stay in the town." Casey answered. "We should get some supplies then find a place more easily defendable in the forest."

"You mean camp out some more?" Chuck was surprised.

"For a while till I can find a cave that would better suit us. If I can find the right kind of cave I can turn it into a permanent shelter for us." Casey answered.

Knowing Casey had the most experience of the three of them surviving wilderness areas, Chuck deferred to that experience.

"Okay so we get supplies then leave the town. Sounds good to me." Chuck said as he began looking for the shops that would sell the items that Casey had mentioned.

The food was easy to find. Several vendors were farmers selling their crops. Chuck flashed on each food item and knew which ones they could eat and which ones would be poisonous to them. He did his best to haggle down the prices and bought a few bags of several of the vegetables and few fruits that were being sold. There was no need to buy any meat, Casey could bring them meat easily. However, Chuck did buy a large cheese wheel and something similiar to flour, coffee and salt and sugar. Apparently salt and sugar were a universal item found on many planets. The packed the items into the packs, Sarah and Casey easily carrying them leaving Chuck unencumbered.

At a blacksmiths shop a huge alien with a head like a bison with curling horns and dark eyes stood head and chest taller than even Casey swinging a hammer against hot metal on an anvil. The alien's body was covered in dark curly fur and it stood on hooved feet.

Chuck spoke with the alien who despite its fearsome look and size was a gentle creature as long as no one interred its wrath. Casey had told him what tools they needed and Chuck was negotiating prices with the bison like alien. Some of the tools were common enough that the bison already had some made that he would sell them, but a few of the tools were not very common and would require some time for the bison to make them. For those that needed to be made Chuck paid the bison half the price that they had settled on and would be back in a week to pay the rest and recieve the tools.

Luckily for them, the aliens had given them three times the amount of money they normally gave the inmates that were placed on the prison planet probably because they were victims rather than convicts. The money helped them to buy the food and tools they needed leaving them money that they might need in the future.

The last items they bought were cast iron cooking ware. A few pots and pans, a kettle, large spoons and ladles as well as eating utensils. Casey also had Chuck buy a large pack that was usually placed on the backs of the riding animals that the aliens used. Casey packed all of the supplies in the pack and carried it out of the town.

Once they were outside of the town deeper into the forest, Casey sat the pack down and stripped out of his clothes placing them in one of the smaller packs.

"When I change, Sarah, harness the pack to me and then the two of you get on. I will get us far enough from the town so we can camp."

"What Casey we are not going to ride you." Sarah said, Chuck agreed.

"Why not?" Casey said. "I can take us there faster and I offered. There's no need to worry it doesn't offend me." With that Casey changed into the cat form and then refused to move until Sarah placed the pack on his back and then reluctantly Chuck and Sarah mounted Casey's back in front of the pack with Sarah just behind Casey's broud shoulders and Chuck just behind her. Once they were secured on his back, Casey leaped into a loping run that he knew he could maintain for hours.

Sarah and Chuck leaned over Casey's body careful not to pinch or pull on his fur. Casey's gait was smooth and they found it easy to stay on his back.

Eventually Casey found a clearing deep in the forest that would make a good camping spot. Casey stopped and his two riders slid off his back then Sarah removed the heavy pack so Casey could change back if he wanted to.

Once unburdened Casey left the two of them to make camp so that he could hunt for food and a place to make a more permanent home for the three of them.

Once Casey was gone Sarah and Chuck began to set up the camp. One of the extra items they had purchased in the town was a tent that they set up first. Inside the tent the set out the bedrolls and blankets for the three of them.

"I am going to gather some firewood, Chuck, why don't you set up the tripod." Sarah suggested.

Chuck nodded at that and Sarah dissapeared into the forest. Chuck opened the packs and took out a metal folded tripod that would be used to hang the stewpot over the fire for cooking. He cleared a circular spot on the ground for the fire and then set up the tripod over that. Once that was done, Chuck found some stones that he could place around the circular firepit. He then went through the packs to find something make for food. He poured water from the large waterbag into the small pot and then washed and cut up some of the vegetable into the water, adding some grain and salt as well. Sarah came back from the forest within a large armload of wood and set them down near the firepit.

Sarah used the flint and steel in the packs to start a fire. Once it was burning hot enough, they hung the pot from the tripod.

"This will take awhile to cook." Sarah said. "But I don't think we are going anywhere soon."

Chuck nodded at that. He dug through the packs and took out some of the fruit he had bought in the town and handed Sarah one while eating his own. The fruit would tide them over until the soup was ready.

"I wonder how Casey plans to make a cave liveable?" Sarah wondered.

Chuck shrugged. He didn't know much about his handlers, having surprisingly not flashed on their full files, just on a few bits and pieces. He knew Casey was a Marine and had no doubt gone through alot of survival training which was good for them since neither Chuck nor Sarah knew much about surviving in the wilderness. Sarah was a CIA agent but most if not all her assignments had been in cities.

"What is going to happen to us?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know what you mean." Chuck said.

"We are here on this planet, and I don't think we are ever getting off. We've been changed, made stronger and faster. You have power over Casey and I and then we seem to have this compulsion to be near each other. "

"I think we'll just go on, you know. Casey seems to have some idea of how we'll surive. We'll stay together and spend most of our time surviving."

Sarah nodded. This wasn't exactly how she thought she would spend the rest of her life.

"Could be worse, we could be in that zoo." Chuck offerred.

Sarah smiled at Chuck. "You are right. I need to stop brooding. We are together and we can survive this together."

While Chuck and Sarah had been making the camp, Casey had tracked and killed a large animal with curled horns and six legs. Once he had gorged himself on the carcass leaving the scraps for the hungry scavengers that had begun to gather around, Casey then began his hunt for a suitable cave. He explored a few only to find them to be unsuitable, and at least one inhabited. The creature inside had been no match for Casey, but when it was dead Casey let it be, food not at all a priority at the moment.

Eventually Casey came across a sheltered valley by crossing an iced over river and through a narrow passage. The valley wasn't more than ten miles from the town, Casey had done alot of circling around in his search. The valley was quite sheltered by forest and high cliffs. Among the rocky cliffs, Casey found a cave.

The cave's entrance was barely large enough for Casey to fit inside with his new body, but once inside the cave opened up, its ceiling reaching up at least fifteen feet. From the entrance the ground sloped down naturally until it leveled out a few feet down. The floor was made of rock, smoothed out by water years ago. The roof had two openings that let in light allowing Casey to see the interior. Casey liked the look of the cave immediatly and decided this would be their new home. Casey turned and left the cave glad to have found it and it no be occupied. He took the time to leave scent markers at the entrance of the cave then went to explore the valley further.

Satisfied at what he had found, Casey decided to head back to the camp. He knew by the time he got there it would be dark. They would rest at the camp and then Casey would bring them to the valley in the morning.

The sun had set by the time Casey returned to the camp carrying a small kill in his mouth that he had made as he was traveling to the camp. He could see the small fire that had been banked and the two figures sitting near the fire wrapped in blankets.

The moons' lights bathed over Casey's white fur making him easy to see to his partners. Just outside the camp, Casey stopped and dropped the kill on the ground, then strode forward shifting back into human form as he did. Once at the camp, he knelt naked beside the pack where his clothes were and dressed.

"Did you find a cave?" Chuck asked as Casey took a knife from the pack.

"Yes. I can take us there tomorrow." Casey answered then strolled back to the carcass and began to skin and butcher the animal. He brought the skin and the meat back to the camp. The meat he hung over the fire using the tripod and some small hooks that had come with it.

After washing his hands using snow and some water from the canteens, Casey dug through the packs and came up with a few of the tools that Casey had asked Chuck to buy from the blacksmith. Once he had the tools he came and sat down between the other two and took up the skin he left lying on a rock near the fire.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

"Cleaning the skin so we can cure it." Casey said.

"Why?" Chuck asked.

"When we were in that town I noticed what kind of vendors and shops were there and I never saw one place that sold furs. I would have thought with this forest around them there would be some fur traders and maybe even a tannery, but there was nothing." Casey answered then noticed that Chuck was flashing.

"There isn't any because most of the animals on this planet are too dangerous for anyone to kill. There are a few aliens that trap the smaller animals, but it takes a long before they can get enough to make it worth their while. There aren't that many small mammals and most don't have the type of fur that customers want." Chuck explained.

"That explains it. Most of the animals I have seen were pretty big and looked too dangerous to hunt with just spear." Casey put in.

"So you think we should become fur traders?" Sarah asked Casey.

"Why not. I can bring down any of these animals. Hell give you a spear you probably could too Walker. I can teach both of you how to cure the furs and tan the hides. We need some way to make money so we can buy food and supplies."

"Its a good idea." Chuck said.

Sarah nodded.

While they sat around the fire, Casey explained to them how to cure the hides starting with cleaning, then braining, softening and then smoking. Casey didn't show them all of it that night since some of it would require things they did not have access to yet. The hide he had would keep until then in the frozen enviroment.

Eventually the three of them retired to their bedrolls inside the tent leaving the meat to slowly cook over the banked fire and the hide rolled up in the snow.

The next morning after breakfast they packed up everything. The cooked meat cut into strips and wrapped in cloth then placed in the packs. Once the packs were filled, the tent struck and the fire put out, Casey stripped down placing his clothes in a pack and then shifted to his cat form. Sarah placed the heavy packs on Casey's back strapping them carefully in place, then she and Chuck mounted up on Casey's back and Casey took them to the sheltered valley he had found and to the cave that would be their new home.

To make the cave liveable would require work, but Casey already had that planned out. In the beginning the cave worked as a temporary shelter. The two holes in the ceiling allowed them to make a fire in the cave itself to keep them warm and to cook their food. One corner of the cave made a good place to store the vegetables and fruits they had purchased while their bedrolls occupied another area of the cave. Once they had that settled, Casey began to show them what needed to be done to begin their new work.

The first thing Casey began building using the tools he had Chuck buy was to build a smokehouse. Since they didn't have any wood unless they wanted to chop down trees and then spend the time to make seasoned boards from the greenwood, Casey made the smokehouse out of stone.

Sarah and Chuck helped as they could, gathering stones and mixing mortar made from sand, ground limestone from the valley walls and water.

Casey made the smokehouse a good size so that they could smoke meat as well as hides. The smokehouse took several days to make. They would take breaks to make food and for Casey to hunt. They used the salt that Chuck had bought to cure any of the meat that Casey brought back. During the construction of the smokehouse, they went back to the town once more to pick up the last of tools they had ordered, more salt for curing, several burlap sacks, and some iron rings and hooks that Casey eventually attached to the ceiling of his smokehouse.

The burlap sacks were used to store the salted meat that were then hung in a tree to cure the meat. Once the smokehouse was completed, Casey and Sarah spent hours cutting down hardwood trees and breaking them down into firewood to use in the smokehouse. The rest were stacked against the side of the stone building.

Once the smokehouse was done, they then began to smoke the cured meat they had and they few hides that they had cleaned scraping off the meat and connecting tissue and using stale urine to clean the fat and oils off, then used cooked brains to brain the skins, and then softened preparing them to be smoked.

Several hides and furs were placed in the smokehouse, some of the furs from very large animals that Casey had killed including two ice bears.

Once that process was begun, Casey turned his skills to making the cave more liveable. Chuck and Sarah were sent to get more rocks, while he broke down limestone to help make mortar.

Using the rocks and mortar, Casey built two fireplaces in the cave, their chimneys connecting to the two holes in the ceiling of the cave.

Building the fireplaces took weeks. During that time when they weren't working on the fireplaces, Sarah and Chuck took turns making food, cleaning hides, checking on the smoking meats and hides, resalting the curing meats, and collecting firewood.

Casey worked on the fireplaces, either building on them directly or making the ingrediants for mortar. Sarah had taking to hunting as well, taking a spear and bringing back large animals to be skinned, butchered, cured and then smoked. The hides from animals that did not have luxerious fur was made into leather, stretched out over frames where combinations of salt and urine were used to clean and dehair the hides making them into rawhide and then a solution made from tree oil used to tan the hide making it more waterproof.

One of the fireplaces Casey was building was to be used for cooking therefore Casey made it larger and added an oven above the hearth. In the hearth he placed iron rings so that they could hang kettles and pots over the fire for cooking. He also a metal grate placed that could be used to set pans and pots on over the fire.

Once the cooking hearth was done, Casey worked on the other fireplace which was smaller and to be used only for heat in the coldest of winter months. The second hearth was placed near where they had their bedding and took less time to make than the cooking hearth.

By the time the fireplaces were finished, they had a reasonable amount of hides and furs for trading and selling and they were running low on supplies again.

They spent a day cleaning themselves and their clothes using water heated in the cooking hearth. Used up the last of their vegetables and grain to make a stew with some cured meat that they ate. The next day they packed up the hides and furs in the large pack which Casey carried in his tiger form, and then Chuck and Sarah rode Casey as the big NSA agent turned cat took them back to the town.

They always stopped before they came in sight of the town so that Casey could change back to human form and get dressed. They didn't want any of the aliens so know about Casey's ability.

Once dressed, Casey picked up the pack and the three of them went down to the walled town.

"How are we going to do this?" Chuck asked.

"Figure we can use one of the empty stalls and set up shop." Casey pointed to a few of the empty stalls among the ones that were being used by other vendors.

Chuck asked on of the vendors if it was alright to use an empty stall. The alien who looked like a koala bear with wide bluish green eyes told him that that was what the stalls were there for. They had been built by the residents of the town for the farmers and other no denizens to use to sell their wares.

Chuck thanked the alien and the three of them took up a stall and began to unpack the furs and hides hanging them on the walls and beams. As they did so, Chuck couldn't help notice how several of the aliens in the town were staring with wide eyes at the furs and hides. Chuck had a feeling they were going to make a killing.

As it turned out, Chuck was correct. Not everyone could afford the furs and hides they were selling but those who could or had something they could trade that Chuck and the others could use were more than willing to buy and pay the steep prices.

The salt dealer, a merchant from beyond the town, was more than willing to trade several bags of his salt for a few of the furs. Salt was one of the more expensive items in the town, but was worth it since it was used to cure meats. Chuck thought that it was a good trade, especially since the merchant had struck a bargain to be a repeat customer.

The blacksmith traded several tools for a couple of the hides. The tools were not yet made, but they were specific tools that Casey wanted to help make things easier for them. They would hold the hides for the bison blacksmith and bring them back in a few weeks to trade for the tools that would be finished in that time.

The rest of their customers paid in coin for the hides. Once all the hides were sold, they used the coin to stock up on vegetables and fruits as well as flour, cheese, sugar, and grain.

Once everything was placed in the packs, they left the town and Casey took them back to the valley and their home.


End file.
